virus since it arrived in america in 1999, the worst outbreak this year for west nile virus was around dallas because of budget cuts. remember, this is a disease spread by mosquitoes. texas has no entomologist anymore. they cut the position because they ran out of money. >> for over a century, the u.s. fire service had the task of extinguishing any fire that was started on federal land. that wound up with a situation where we have these huge, hot, devastating forest fires in the modern era. is our public health policy doing something similar? >> is an interesting metaphor, but i do not know if it is completely transferable. >> what about the trend in decline of vaccination. another colleague wrote a book called the panic virus. he talked about the virus spread of belief that vaccinations make people sick, especially children. vaccinations cause autism, among other things. a lot of science shows that is a false concern, but it has led to a serious decline of rates of vaccination in children in some areas. >> let's not completely step away from the point that was just made. it is an interesting